The Denver Police Department has used its Twitter account over the past two years to alert the public to road closures, seek crime tips and even to advertise blood drives.

But Tuesday night, the department deployed the social media tool for a whole new, and much re-tweeted purpose: taking on the local media.

And the department says reporters should get used to it.

“We feel, and we believe a lot of the public feels, that not all sides of stories are told,” Lt. Matt Murray, the head of the department’s communications office and DPD’s chief tweeter, said Wednesday.

“We also have an audience, and we want to give them access to the other side of the story. We believe the public can view this and decide for themselves.”

The tweet, sent by Murray about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday to about 5,400 followers of @denverpolice, stated: “UNBIASED??? Which news story is fair and balanced?”

It included links to two television news stories about red-light photo radar tickets — one from 9News and one from Fox-31. It also had a link to an online survey that the department created and titled “Fair and Balanced?”

The survey asks: “Which news story does a better job of telling BOTH sides of the story?”

The options are KUSA-Channel 9, Fox-31, or “Who cares? I hate photo radar!!!”

Murray said he decided to enter the uncharted territory of media criticism in 140 characters or less because he felt the Fox-31 story — titled “Are photo radar tickets worthless?” — was irresponsible and one-sided.

Murray said that after the story aired, he contacted the reporter and asked to speak with her about it — as he is known to do when he feels a reporter has been unfair.

The reporter, “chose not to engage,” Murray said.

Fox-31 declined to comment Wednesday.

The response to Murray’s tweet was almost immediate.

A Denver Post reporter posted an item on The Post’s cops and courts blog, and the reporter and The Post’s social media editor tweeted about it.

So did some other media — including 9News.

And then came re-tweet after re-tweet, in which people re-sent Murray’s message or The Post’s and other media’s tweets about it.

Most of the reaction Murray has heard is that what he did is “interesting,” he said.

Meanwhile, Murray said he will continue to call out reporters — and others — via Twitter if he believes their stories are unfair.

“We are going to continue to provide the public with information so they can make their own decisions,” Murray said.

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